Exploded ammunition depot – clearance stopped: What’s next in Mitholz? – News


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The DDPS should provide the National Council’s Security Policy Commission with answers as quickly as possible.

The clearance of the Mitholz ammunition depot in the Bernese Oberland has been blocked for the time being. A majority of the Security Policy Commission of the National Council SIK wants to have alternatives examined. Reason for the march stop: There are too many unanswered questions about security.

Security in Mitholz has different sides: On the one hand for the people in the village. Ammunition and remains of explosives from the ammunition depot of the Swiss army, which exploded in 1947, are therefore to be completely cleared.

But the safety of those who lend a hand should also be guaranteed. National Councilor Mauro Tuena, President of the SIK, addresses this: “Security has top priority. For the population, but also for those people who go into the tunnel and get the ammunition out.”

Suspicious ordnance clearance

But here doubts had crept into the commission. According to National Councilor Alois Gmür, these were created after an on-site inspection after hearings from the explosive ordnance clearers. “They also spread uncertainty and said that more exploratory drilling would have to be done.” As a result, a majority of the Commission found that the whole thing had to be checked better first.

Assessments by SRF correspondent Matthias Baumer


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SRF News: What’s next for the residents of Mitholz?

Matthias Baumer: Many fall between chair and bench. They were supposed to get money from the DDPS and set up their new existence elsewhere, but are now blocked. But there is also a minority in the village that wanted the current procedure. They mistrust a complete eviction. The majority of the people in Mitholz, however, are dismayed because they are once again hanging in a vacuum.

Why are the Safety Commission’s safety concerns only now surfacing?

The point in time is rather coincidental, it can be seen in the course of parliamentary business. The business was on the agenda for this meeting and therefore the decision of the SIK followed.

How is the decision of the SIK to be classified: Is the project back to zero, at most not cleared in Mitholz?

I do not think so. It will be cleared. Most support the eviction, including a majority of the SIK. The DDPS must now make it plausible to the Commission that the eviction will be expensive, but is the best decision.

So do the explosive ordnance clearance workers distrust the evacuation planned by the DDPS (Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport)? The DDPS is not ready to talk about security.

When asked whether the command responsible, Kamir – the explosive ordnance clearance company – had concerns about their own safety, the DDPS only gave an evasive answer: “The safety of the specialists involved has top priority and is guaranteed for all work.”

Alternatives to evacuation demanded

However, according to the DDPS, working with this ammunition is daily business for trained explosive ordnance disposal workers. In addition, another exploratory dig is being prepared and additional ones are being examined to learn more about the condition of the explosive scrap. Because – according to the DDPS: “The facts in the field of explosives are still weak.”

Legend:

The clearance of the Mitholz ammunition depot in the Bernese Oberland has been blocked for the time being.

Keystone/PETER SCHNEIDER

Protection of those who take wood with them and protection of those who clear explosive ordnance: The National Council’s Security Commission would like to have both clarified as far as possible. The SIK therefore wants to know from the DDPS whether alternatives to complete evacuation could not be more effective in terms of safety. SIK President Tuena says: “Is encapsulation also possible – or just eviction?”

“Highest possible security through clarifications”

The DDPS should now provide the Commission with answers as quickly as possible – even more detailed answers, because the DDPS has already rejected these variants.

National Councilor Franziska Roth says that the Security Commission wants clarity about everything if Parliament is to approve the 2.6 billion Swiss francs for the eviction. “It is our responsibility, given the high amount and the risk, to have the highest possible level of security through investigations.” The project was therefore suspended for a maximum of one year.

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